Takechi Hanpeita

Takechi Hanpeita (24 October 1829-3 July 1865) was a Tosa Domain samurai who supported the Imperial cause shortly before the Boshin War.

Biography
Takechi Hanpeita was born on 24 October 1829 in the Tosa Domain on Shikoku, and he was a member of the imperial Sonno Joi movement that sought to revere Emperor Meiji and expel the Westerners from Japan. Takechi, based out of Kyoto, gave orders to the assassin Okada Izo to fight against modernizing daimyo, and in 1862 they assassinated Tosa official Yoshida Toyo for attempting to modernize the domain. Later, Hanpeita was arrested by bakufu officials for the assassination, and he was forced to commit seppuku on 3 July 1865.